Help a Single Parent Foundation brings holiday cheer to local children

From left: Jacqui Daley and Carla Maiden sit with other volunteers from the Help a Single Parent Foundation during the Help a Single Parent Beef and Beer at the George Washington Carver Community Center in Norristown. Photo by Brendan Wills\Times Herald Staff.

Community members prepare to watch the Eagles game at Sunday's Help a Single Parent Beef and Beer at the George Washington Carver Community Center in Norristown. Photo by Brendan Wills\Times Herald Staff.

NORRISTOWN — Several Norristown children will wake up Christmas morning to a Norristown Fire Department fire truck full of presents. The Help a Single Parent Foundation will continue its holiday tradition Wednesday by providing toys and games for local children with single parents struggling to make ends meet.

This Sunday the foundation held its annual Single Parent Beef and Beer at the George Washington Carver Community Center in Norristown where donations of clothing, toys and games were collected for the Christmas morning visits.

Mike Scott, founder of Help a Single Parent, started the foundation with his wife Katrina when they learned that a close friend was struggling to support her child. Since then the program has expanded and helps more families each year, according to Scott.

“The goal isn’t just to help during the holiday season, but all year long,” Scott said. “We help to identify single parents that need help and make sure their child has clothes for school or whatever else they need.”

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According to Scott, Facebook has greatly helped the foundation’s efforts. “Facebook has been a really great help. This has been the biggest year for ticket sales,” Scott said, referring to Sunday’s beef and beer ticket sales. “We collect letters submitted on Facebook by friends of single parents and the foundation’s committee decides which families need the most help.”

This year, the foundation will give gifts to 11 children from three different families.

Valerie Cooper, the foundation’s Program Director, said the foundation hopes to help children affected by events outside of their control. “These people are struggling. Some of the women just lost a job or their husband left them and the kids are the ones suffering because of it,” Cooper said. “It’s not the kids’ fault.”

The foundation also helped struggling single parent families this year by donating Christmas trees complete with decorations and full Christmas dinners.

Community members that attended the beef and beer were encouraged to wear jerseys of their favorite football teams. The Eagles game against the Chicago Bears was broadcast on a giant television at the front of the Carver Center’s gym.

The beef and beer also featured raffle prizes including an LCD television, an at-home massage and spa set, glassware, and various other household items.

Sponsors for the event included Bourbon Blue New Orleans Restaurant in Manayunk, the George Washington Carver Community Center, the Norristown Alumni Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and Why Not Prosper. Why Not Prosper is a non-profit organization that helps incarcerated women find stability after leaving prison.